Neural correlates of dual-task walking in people with central neurological disorders: a systematic review.

backgroundPeople with central neurological disorders experience difficulties with dual-task walking due to disease-related impairments. The objective of this review was to provide a comprehensive examination of the neural correlates (structural/functional brain changes) of dual-task walking in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke, and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

methodsA systematic review of the literature was conducted, following PRISMA guidelines, on Medline, Embase, and Scopus. Included studies examined the relationship between structural and functional brain imaging and dual-task walking performance in people with PD, MS, stroke, and AD. Articles that met the inclusion criteria had baseline characteristics, study design, and behavioral and brain outcomes extracted. Twenty-three studies were included in this review.

resultsMost structural imaging studies (75%) found an association between decreased brain integrity and poor dual-task performance. Specific brain regions that showed this association include the striatum regions and hippocampus in PD and supplementary motor area in MS. Functional imaging studies reported an association between increased prefrontal activity and maintained (compensatory recruitment) or decreased dual-task walking performance in PD and stroke. A subset (n = 2) of the stroke papers found no significant correlations. Increased supplementary motor area activity was associated with decreased performance in MS and stroke. No studies on AD were identified.

conclusionIn people with PD, MS, and stroke, several neural correlates of dual-task walking have been identified, however, the direction of the association between neural and performance outcomes varied across the studies. The type of cognitive task used and presentation modality (e.g., visual) may have contributed to these mixed findings.